Firecracker explosions trigger Zambo City fire

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A series of blasts rocked this port city when a pyrotechnics shop exploded Friday night triggering panic among the residents, authorities said yesterday.

No one was reported hurt from the blasts, which sparked a fire that razed a two-story building housing the pyrotechnics shop, a flower shop, and a bakeshop in Barangay Guiwan at about 9 p.m.

A two-story residential house adjacent to the blast site was destroyed in the fire, while a jeepney parked in front of the pyrotechnics shop was damaged in the explosions.

The explosions were so powerful that it ripped the metal trashes, beams and walls of the building owned by Mary Omar.

It also shattered the glass walls and ripped ceilings of banks and business shops located within 50 to 80 meter radius within the blast site.

Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo, city police director, ruled out terrorism in the incident as police explosive experts found no traces of bomb components at the site.

Fire and police investigators said the explosion started on the second floor of the building, where the  firecrackers owned by the CT Pyrotechnics were believed stored, according to Mayor Isabel Climaco-Salazar.

Salazar said the pyrotechnics and flower shops were owned by a certain Daisy Bangayan-Aquino.

Chief Inspector Elmer Acuña, police station commander 6, said the Aquino family claimed Daisy was a stay-in at the flower shop, as they expressed fear she might have been trapped.

Firefighters sifted through the debris but found no sign of human remains.

Rick Jay Fernandez, who ran a  flower shop four stalls away, said he saw Aquino rushing out of the shop minutes before the explosions.

The Aquino family has yet to locate Daisy as of press time.